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Monday, December 10, 2012

Gingerbread House

This year, I attempted gingerbread house from scratch. From drawing the template, preparing the dough, baking and putting the house together and finally decorating it. It was a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when I finally completed my mini gingerbread house. As the gingerbread house is meant for display only, I used the cheapest shortening available to prepare the dough, which is tub margarine (S$2.40 for 500g). No need to use expensive butter, of course unless, you intend to eat the gingerbread house.

3) Add in plain flour and mix to form a dough. Rest the dough for a short while before rolling and cutting out the cookie shapes.

4) Bake in preheated oven of 175C for about 15 minutes or more. I prefer to bake for a longer time to ensure the cookies are really dry, given our high level of humidity.

With the success of my first gingerbread house, I made my second gingerbread house a few days later - the polka dots house. For this gingerbread house, I flooded the cookies (i.e. the "walls") with red/white royal icing and let them dry completely (preferably in an aircon room to speed up the drying process) before putting the house together. Despite putting in more work and effort, I think the house is quite ugly and far from the super cute-looking bird house by Haniela.

Now, these two gingerbread houses are currently the best natural air freshener for my house. The aroma of mixed spices and icing sugar is simply superb! One question that you may have .... any ants, cockroaches or house pests came knocking on the door of my gingerbread house? Surprisingly ..... no. I just leave them uncovered on the dining table. Perhaps the mixed spices fragrance is too strong for the liking of the average household pests??